In honor of his 60th anniversary (May 16), photographs by Swiss magnum photographer Werner Bischof are shown, documenting his travels through Europe, Asia and America. Bishop came to photography from his visit to the arts and crafts school in Zurich in 1932.
The first years he devoted himself to the subject photography and experimented with light and shadow. His trained eye and his urge to aesthetics made it difficult for him to get involved in the field of documentary photography.
But the combination of technical design principles and his sensitive sense for delicate compositions enabled him to establish himself in this field and are characteristic of his life's work.
Thus, Bishop created icons such as the famous picture of the Peruvian flute player, the Shinto priest in the snow-covered courtyard of the Meiji Temple, and the lurking press photographers in Korea. Bishop's photographs stand for the authentic and human. The stylistic intermingling of artistic elements embedded in reportage themes make his work a very special guide to photography.
